Development of a Visiting Nursing Practice Self-Evaluation Scale: Assessment of Skill for Caring for Individuals With Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia

Abstract

Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) continue to be a concern for our rapidly progressing aging society. Visiting nurses play an important role in community service for individuals with BPSD. The aim of the current study was to develop a visiting nursing practice self-evaluation scale for nurses who care for individuals with BPSD. The study was conducted in two phases. Semi-structured interviews were arranged to generate a draft scale that was further examined by an expert panel. A national survey was performed using the draft scale and two existing scales. Four factors and 22 items were obtained from exploratory factor analysis: (a) assessment and response factors related to BPSD, (b) interventions for reducing family care burdens, (c) nonpharmacological approaches, and (d) attitudes in trying to understand a patient's intentions. Reliability and validity were verified. The scale is useful for improving visiting nursing services for individuals with dementia. [ Research in Gerontological Nursing, 13 (1), 49–60.]

A hybrid systematic narrative review of instruments measuring home‐based care nurses' competency

“…The studies were published between 2000 and 2021, and most had been published after 2012 ( n = 17), which may suggest an emerging interest in HBC nurses' competency in the last decade. The studies were conducted in the United States of America ( n = 5) (Bladen & McAtee, 2016; Delaney et al., 2011; Dowding et al., 2018; Hodge, 2020; Reckinger et al., 2013), Japan ( n = 5) (Asahara et al., 2013; Furuno et al., 2020; Karikawa & Nakatani, 2019; Miyata et al., 2022; Ogawa & Nakatani, 2020), Norway ( n = 4), (Bing‐Jonsson et al., 2015, 2016; Finnbakk et al., 2015; Hovland et al., 2018), United Kingdom ( n = 3) (Haddad et al., 2007; Lauder et al., 2000; Shipman et al., 2008), Taiwan ( n = 2) (Guo et al., 2008; Lin et al., 2010), Canada ( n = 1) (Akhtar‐Danesh et al., 2010), Fiji ( n = 1) (Tanabe et al., 2020), Netherlands ( n = 1) (Veldhuizen et al., 2021) and Sweden ( n = 1) (Hasson & Arnetz, 2008). In total, 15,531 participants were involved in the included studies.…”

“…HBC nurses are also expected to demonstrate abilities to make value‐based decisions, since the instruments measured nurses' ability to practise and plan their care activities autonomously and flexibly (Hovland et al., 2018), ability to prioritize activities according to changing situations, confidence in their values, thinking and judgement (Reckinger et al., 2013) and ability to detect complaints that patients did not express through non‐verbal expressions (Furuno et al., 2020). These components of nursing care were mapped onto the critical thinking and problem‐solving skills competency.…”

“…The aim of the instruments provided insights into the types of competencies that are typically expected of HBC nurses and can be categorized into two themes. The first theme focused on the area of nursing work such as early recognition of patient's problems (Bladen & McAtee, 2016), management of patients with heart failure (Delaney et al., 2021), general numeracy skills (Dowding et al., 2018), graph reading skill (Dowding et al., 2018), caring for individuals with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (Furuno et al., 2020), helping spousal caregivers (Karikawa & Nakatani, 2019), care for individuals with mental health problems (Lauder et al., 2000), competencies for general nursing or public health nursing (Bing‐Jonsson et al., 2015, 2016; Akhtar‐Danesh et al., 2010; Guo et al., 2008; Hodge, 2020; Hovland et al., 2018; Lin et al., 2010; Reckinger et al., 2013; Veldhuizen et al., 2021) and competencies of palliative care (Shipman et al., 2008).…”

“…Therefore, it is important for nurses to be confident in performing care assessments to identify early signs of deterioration in patient's health and to ensure the quality and safety of care at home. This review found that nurses are expected to perform different types of assessments, namely physical assessments, psychological assessments, family assessments, lifestyle assessments and community‐related assessments (Furuno et al., 2020; Miyata et al., 2022). Apart from being competent in care assessments, nurses are also expected to adopt evidence‐based practice and be able to identify an area of patient care that requires improvement (Hovland et al., 2018; Veldhuizen et al., 2021).…”